'We have seized power,' says head of military unit
An elite military unit says it has seized power in Madagascar from President Andry Rajoelina following weeks of youth-led protests in the Indian Ocean island.
Standing outside the Presidential Palace, CAPSAT chief Col Michael Randrianirina said the military would form a government and hold elections within two years. He also suspended key democratic institutions, like the electoral commission.
Gen Z protestors will be part of the changes because "the movement was created in the streets so we have to respect their demands" he added.
Troops and protestors have been celebrating the apparent ousting of President Rajoelina, with thousands cheering and waving flags in the capital, Antananarivo.
Madagascar's constitutional court has named Col Randrianirina as the country's new leader, even though a statement from the president's office said he was still in charge and denounced what it described as an "attempted coup d'etat".
Rajoelina's whereabouts are unknown, but he has said he is sheltering in a "safe place" following an alleged attempt on his life by "military personnel and politicians", which CAPSAT has denied having any involvement in. There have been unconfirmed reports that the president was flown out of the country on a French military aircraft.
Youth-led protests began over electricity cuts and water shortages
The demonstrations soon escalated, to reflect wider dissatisfaction with Rajoelina's government over high unemployment, rampant corruption and the cost-of-living crisis.
Protestors clashed with security forces resulting in the death of at least 22 people and more than 100 others injured, according to the UN, although the Malagasy government has dismissed those figures and described them as based on "rumours and misinformation".
CAPSAT, which supported Rajoelina when he came into power in 2009, joined the protestors on Saturday.
President Rajoelina, an entrepreneur and former DF, was once seen as a fresh start for Madagascar.
The baby-faced leader became president at the age of just 24, earning the title of Africa's youngest leader, and going on to govern for four years, before returning to power after the 2018 election.
AFP via Getty Images
President Andry Rajoelina gave a speech on Monday via his Facebook page
But he fell out of favour following allegations of cronyism and corruption, which he denied.
Despite the fact that power appears to have shifted away from him, he has continued to try to influence events.
Rajoelina attempted to dissolve the national assembly before the opposition could vote to strip him of his presidency for abandonment of post, but that didn't work.
Lawmakers voted to impeach Rajoelina by 130 votes to one blank ballot. Even members of Rajoelina's party, IRMAR, voted overwhelmingly to impeach him.
Rajoelina rejected the vote, calling it "null and void".
The African Union (AU) has warned against soldiers "meddling" in Madagascar's political affairs and rejected "any attempt at unconstitutional changes of government".
French President Emmanuel Macron called the situation "greatly worrying".
The island has gone through a series of political upheavals in recent years.
Madagascar is one of the poorest countries in the world, with 75% of its 30 million people living below the poverty line, according to the World Bank.
Christopher Cash (left) and Christopher Berry (right) were both accused of spying for China
The Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats are demanding the Labour government publish the evidence it submitted in the now-collapsed case against two people accused of spying for China.
It follows another public intervention from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), which has made clear it would not stand in the way if ministers chose to put their evidence in the public domain.
On Tuesday, senior government figures had suggested that the CPS had told them to do so would be "inappropriate".
The director of public prosecutions said the case collapsed because evidence could not obtained from the government referring to China as a national security threat.
This row within a row relates to the three witness statements submitted by Deputy National Security Adviser Matthew Collins, on whether China had been regarded as a threat at the time of the alleged offences under the previous Conservative government.
The CPS has now said: "The statements were provided to us for the purpose of criminal proceedings which are now over.
"The material contained in them is not ours, and it is a matter for the government, independently of the CPS, to consider whether or not to make that material public."
Mr Cash, a former parliamentary researcher, and Mr Berry were charged under the Official Secrets Act in April 2024, when the Conservatives were in power.
They were accused of gathering and providing information prejudicial to the safety and interests of the state between December 2021 and February 2023.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp told the BBC: "The government should now urgently release Matt Collins's witnesses statements and the correspondence around them in the interests of full transparency.
"Since this evidence would have been cross-examined in court, it cannot be secret.
"Otherwise, there will be legitimate questions about what exactly the government is hiding."
Liberal Democrat Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Calum Miller also called on Labour to release the full witness statements.
"If ministers have nothing to hide they have nothing to fear," Miller said. "Failure to come clean will just confirm people's suspicions of a cover-up and that ministers are more worried about cosying up to China than protecting our national security."
On Sunday, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch wrote to the prime minister asking him to address "unanswered" questions about the collapsed case.
In her letter, Badenoch accused Sir Keir Starmer, or his ministers, of being "too weak to stand up to Beijing on a crucial matter of national security", claiming the government had sought to "appease China".
Jonathan Powell, one of Sir Keir's most senior advisers and political allies, visited China earlier this year
There is every possibility Sir Keir will for the first time face sustained public scrutiny on the case on Wednesday, when he appears at the first Prime Minister's Question time for several weeks, after the parliamentary recess for party conferences.
The Labour leader previously said ministers could only draw on the last government's assessment of China, in which the country was called an "epoch-defining challenge", and his government has maintained it is "frustrated" the trial collapsed.
But there is an exceptionally high bar to prosecuting someone for a second time after an acquittal in court - and it is not possible to do so for people charged under the Official Secrets Act.
That protection against what is known as "double jeopardy" is a basic legal principle that has existed for 800 years.
NEW YORK — Two more members of a Young Republican group chat strewn with racist epithets and hateful jokes stepped down from their jobs Tuesday after POLITICO published an exclusive report on the Telegram exchanges.
Peter Giunta’s time working with New York Assemblymember Mike Reilly “has ended,” the Republican lawmaker said. Giunta served as chair of the New York State Young Republicans when the chat took place. Joseph Maligno, who previously identified himself as the general counsel for that group, is no longer an employee of the New York State Unified Court System, a courts spokesperson confirmed.
Another chat member, Vermont state Senator Sam Douglass, faced mounting calls for his resignation as well, including from the state’s Gov. Phil Scott, a Republican, and Douglass’ fellow Republican lawmakers, who called his statements “deeply disturbing.”
POLITICO’s in-depth look into how one group of Young Republicans spoke privately was met Tuesday with widespread condemnation in New York, Washington and beyond. The members of the chat — 2,900 pages of which were leaked and reviewed by POLITICO — called Black people monkeys, repeatedly used slurs for gay, Black, Latino and Asian people, and jokingly celebrated Adolf Hitler.
In a bipartisan outcry, members of Congress and other political leaders from around the country said they were appalled by the contents of the group chat. The board of directors of the National Young Republicans said every member of the chat “must immediately resign” their state organization.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, speaking on the Senate floor, described the chat as “revolting” and “disgusting.”
“If this report is accurate, every single Republican leader from President Trump on down … ought to condemn these comments swiftly and unequivocally,” Schumer said.
Vice President JD Vance had a different view and broke with Republicans who broadly condemned the comments within the chat.
On X Tuesday night, Vance drew attention to Democratic candidate for Virginia attorney general Jay Jones, who texted a colleague about shooting the then-Republican House speaker and wishing harm on his children.
“This is far worse than anything said in a college group chat, and the guy who said it could become the AG of Virginia,” Vance wrote with a screenshot of the text exchange. “I refuse to join the pearl clutching when powerful people call for political violence.”
The fallout over the Telegram group chat comes after two others in the slur-laced private exchanges saw their job statuses change before the article even published. William Hendrix, the Kansas Young Republicans’ vice chair at the time of the chat, is “no longer employed” at Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach’s office. Bobby Walker, who was chair of the New York State Young Republicans as of Tuesday, will not be brought onto New York congressional candidate Peter Oberacker’s campaign as originally planned.
Maligno and Douglass did not respond to repeated requests for comment. In separate statements, both Giunta and Walker apologized for the messages they wrote in the chat but questioned whether they had been altered or taken out of context. They also attempted to blame the release of their chat on the New York Young Republican Club, a political group that operates at the city level and which is often at odds with the state group.
“I am so sorry to those offended by the insensitive and inexcusable language found within the more than 28,000 messages of a private group chat that I created during my campaign to lead the Young Republicans,” Giunta said. “These logs were sourced by way of extortion and provided to POLITICO by the very same people conspiring against me in what appears to be a highly-coordinated year-long character assassination led by Gavin Wax and the New York City Young Republican Club.”
Walker struck a similar tone.
“There is no excuse for the language and tone in messages attributed to me. The language is wrong and hurtful, and I sincerely apologize,” he said. “It’s troubling that private exchanges were obtained and released in a way clearly intended to inflict harm, and the circumstances raise real questions about accuracy and motive but none of that excuses the language. This has been a painful lesson about judgment and trust.”
Wax declined POLITICO’s request for comment.
New York Republican leaders, including Rep. Elise Stefanik, state Senate Minority Leader Rob Ortt and state party chair Ed Cox, had preemptively denounced the chat as POLITICO reported out the story.
“We are appalled by the vile and inexcusable language revealed in the Politico article published today. Such behavior is disgraceful, unbecoming of any Republican, and stands in direct opposition to the values our movement represents,” the National Young Republicans group said Tuesday in a statement posted on X.
New York Democrats piled on after the conversations became public.
“Take them out of the party, take away their official roles, stop using them as campaign advisers. There needs to be consequences. This bullshit has to stop,” Gov. Kathy Hochul told reporters.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries posted an image of POLITICO’s article on Instagram and wrote: “These are sick people. Every single one of these racists and antisemites must be publicly exposed and held accountable.”
Rep. Yvette Clarke, chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, quoted from the article — “Monkeys” “Watermelon people” “1488” — and added on X, “But when we say white supremacy is thriving on the right, they call us reactionary… Give me a break. The future of the Republican Party proudly embraces bigotry that belongs in the past, and every American needs to recognize how dangerous that is.”
Rep. Grace Meng, chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, said in a statement that “their willingness to engage in such vile rhetoric behind closed doors speaks volumes to their character and the tone set by our nation’s leaders.”
POLITICO’s reporting on the thousands of messages shared among a dozen Young Republican club members between January and August also reverberated Tuesday in one of the country’s most contentious congressional battlegrounds.
The Democrat-aligned House Majority PAC shared photos of Giunta and Walker with vulnerable New York GOP Rep. Mike Lawler at local GOP events. And some of Lawler’s Democratic challengers, including Beth Davidson, Cait Conley and Mike Sacks, amplified the connection between the New York Republicans.
Lawler, who represents the suburbs north of New York City, disavowed the chat members and called for their resignations.
“The deeply offensive and hateful comments reportedly made in a private chat among members of the New York State Young Republicans are disgusting,” his spokesperson Ciro Riccardi said in a statement. “They should resign from any leadership position immediately and reflect on how far they have strayed from basic human respect and decency.”
Ahead of next year’s midterms, the union- and Democrat-backed Battleground New York PAC ramped up the pressure on the state’s GOP representatives.
“These racist, anti-Semitic, and disgusting texts need to be disavowed, full stop, by New York Republicans,” the group’s spokesperson Andrew Grossman said. “Then, New York Republicans need to come clean about the rot within their party that even led to this moment.”
'We want to raise our children': Life in Gaza after hostages and prisoners released
Hamas has returned the bodies of four more deceased hostages, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has said.
The Red Cross retrieved the remains in coffins and handed them over to the Israeli military late on Tuesday night.
The transfer came after Israel warned it would restrict aid into Gaza until Hamas returned the bodies of all 28 deceased hostages. The Palestinian armed group handed back 20 living and four deceased hostages on Monday.
The remains of 45 deceased Palestinians who had been held in Israel were returned to Gaza on Tuesday, the Red Cross said in a statement.
US President Donald Trump's ceasefire plan, which both Israel and Hamas accepted, envisaged the handover of all 48 hostages would be completed by noon on Monday.
While all living hostages were returned, pressure is growing on Hamas and the Israeli government over the remains of 20 hostages which Hamas has not yet repatriated.
Reuters
Red Cross vehicles transport the bodies of deceased hostages who had been held in Gaza
In a statement on Tuesday, the IDF said: "Hamas is required to fulfil its part of the agreement and make the necessary efforts to return all the hostages to their families and to proper burial."
Israel's defence minister has warned the Palestinian armed group that "any delay or deliberate avoidance will be considered a gross violation of the agreement and will be responded to accordingly".
Israeli officials said they had decided to restrict aid and delay plans to open the Rafah border crossing with Egypt because Hamas had violated the ceasefire deal by failing to turn over bodies of hostages.
Hamas says it has had difficulty locating the dead hostages' remains.
Watch: 'I felt immense happiness and joy', Israelis react to hostage release
A copy of the ceasefire agreement, published by Israeli media last week, appeared to acknowledge that Hamas and other Palestinian factions might not be able to locate all of the bodies within the original timeframe.
An Israeli official has suggested that an international task force will start work to locate the remains of anyone who was not returned.
"A big burden has been lifted, but the job is NOT DONE. THE DEAD HAVE NOT BEEN RETURNED, AS PROMISED! Phase two begins right NOW!!!" Trump said on X.
Almost 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees were released as part of the 20-point peace plan, touted by the US president as the end of the two-year war.
The first phase of Trump's plan saw the ceasefire come into effect at 12:00 (09:00 GMT) on 10 October.
Reuters
Red Cross vehicles escort a truck transporting the bodies of Palestinians who had been held in Israel during the war
Trump signed the declaration on Monday, alongside the leaders of Egypt and Qatar - the main mediators - and Turkey, which played a significant role in the latter stages of indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas.
UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron were among more than 20 world leaders attending - including many from Muslim and Arab countries. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas did not take part.
The plan would see Gaza initially governed by a transitional committee of Palestinian technocrats overseen by the "Board of Peace", before power is eventually transferred to the Palestinian Authority (PA) once it has undergone reforms.
But difficult negotiations will be needed in order to move forward with the latter phases of the plan.
Among the points of contention are the extent and timeline of Israeli troop withdrawal, the disarmament of Hamas, and the future governance of the Gaza Strip.
Hamas has previously said it will not disarm unless a Palestinian state was established - and has rejected the idea of foreign governance in Gaza.
The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.
At least 67,869 people have been killed by Israeli military operations in Gaza since then, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.
A brown hyena standing beside the ruins of an abandoned diamond mining settlement has earned wildlife photographer Wim van den Heever the title of Wildlife Photographer of the Year.
He set up his camera trap after spotting fresh hyena tracks in the ghost town of Kolmanskop, Namibia. It took him ten years to get the shot, he said.
The brown hyena, the rarest of all hyena species, is primarily nocturnal and tends to live a solitary life. For years, Mr. van den Heever searched the deserted town, finding only traces of the elusive animal.
"I knew they were there, but actually photographing one was just never going to happen," he says he thought.
He was awarded the prize at London's Natural History Museum.
The annual exhibition dedicated to the competition opens at the Natural History Museum on 17 October.
Keep scrolling to explore the full collection of award-winning images.
Andrea Dominizi
Category: Junior Grand Prize and 15- to 17-year-old winner
Title: After the Destruction
Photographer: Andrea Dominizi, Italy
Location: Lepini Mountains, Lazio, Italy
While exploring the Lepini Mountains in central Italy, an area once logged for its old-growth beech trees, Andrea spotted a beetle resting on a cut log beside abandoned machinery.
"This photo shows the story and challenge faced by many animal species: habitat loss," he says. "In this case, it's a beetle that loses the tree and the wood it needs to lay its eggs."
Category winners
Shane Gross
Category: Animals in their Environment
Title: Like an Eel out of Water
Photographer: Shane Gross, Canada
Location: D'Arros Island, Amirante, Seychelles
After weeks of patience, last year's winner, Shane Gross, captured peppered moray eels scavenging for carrion at low tide.
He spent hours enduring the sun, heat, and flies, waiting where dead fish had washed up. Eventually, three eels appeared.
Jamie Smart
Category: 10 Years and Under category
Title: The Weaver's Lair
Photographer: Jamie Smart, UK
Location: Mid-Wales, UK
On a cold September morning, Jamie Smart discovered an orb-weaver spider curled up inside its silken hideaway.
"It's also quite special for me because I get to show something that people are usually afraid of," she says.
Sebastian Frölich
Category: Wetlands: The Bigger Picture
Title: Vanishing Pond
Photographer: Sebastian Frölich, Germany
Location: Platzertal, Tyrol, Austria
Sebastian Frölich visited Austria's Platzertal moorlands, a fragile wetland, to highlight its vital role as a carbon sink and a habitat for diverse wildlife, at a time when Austria has lost 90 per cent of its peat bogs.
Lubin Godin
Category: 11–14 Years
Title: Alpine Dawn
Photographer: Lubin Godin, France
Location: Col de la Colombière, Haute-Savoie, France
During an early ascent, Lubin Godin found an Alpine ibex resting above a sea of clouds. He retraced his steps as the sun broke through and captured the scene before the mist returned.
Ralph Pace
Category: Underwater
Title: Survival Purse
Photographer: Ralph Pace, USA
Location: Monterey Bay, California, USA
Battling strong currents, Ralph Pace captured this image of a swell shark egg case, revealing a glowing embryo, complete with gill slits and a yolk sac.
Swell sharks depend on kelp to lay their leathery eggs, making them vulnerable to kelp forest loss. Researchers believe Monterey Bay's kelp has declined by more than 95 per cent in the past 34 years.
Philipp Egger
Category: Animal Portraits
Title: Shadow Hunter
Photographer: Philipp Egger, Italy
Location: Naturns, South Tyrol, Italy
Philipp Egger observed this eagle owl's nest from afar for more than four years.
Among the world's largest owls, eagle owls are about twice the weight of buzzards. These nocturnal hunters nest on cliffs or in crevices and often return to the same site for many years.
Qingrong Yang
Category: Behaviour: Birds
Title: Synchronised Fishing
Photographer: Qingrong Yang, China
Location: Yundang Lake, Fujian Province, China
Qingrong Yang captured a ladyfish snatching prey just beneath a little egret's beak.
He often visits the lake to document these frenzied feeding moments.
Dennis Stogsdill
Category: Behaviour: Mammals
Title: Cat Amongst the Flamingos
Photographer: Dennis Stogsdill, USA
Location: Ndutu Lake, Serengeti National Park, Tanzania
Caracals are known for their acrobatic leaps to catch birds, but sightings of them hunting flamingos are rare.
Jon A Juárez
Category: Photojournalism
Title: How to Save a Species
Photographer: Jon A Juárez, Spain
Location: Ol Pejeta, Nanyuki, Laikipia County, Kenya
After years following the BioRescue Project, Jon A. Juárez witnessed a breakthrough in rhino conservation, the first successful transfer of a rhino embryo to a surrogate mother.
Though the foetus of the southern white rhino, pictured here, did not survive due to infection, the milestone proved that IVF could work for rhinos, bringing scientists closer to saving the critically endangered northern white rhino.
In heavy rain, Quentin Martinez followed a flooded path to a pool in a forest clearing and captured the metallic sheen of lesser tree frogs gathering to breed.
Javier Aznar González de Rueda
Category: Photojournalist Story
Title: End of the Round-up
Photographer: Javier Aznar González de Rueda, Spain
Location: USA
Across the US, Javier Aznar González de Rueda explored society's conflicted views of rattlesnakes from deep respect to fear and persecution.
Location: Torndirrup National Park, Western Australia
Georgina Steytler showcased the gum-leaf skeletoniser caterpillar's strange tower of discarded head capsules. Each moult leaves a capsule behind, forming a stack thought to confuse predators.
Audun Rikardsen
Category: Oceans: The Bigger Picture
Title: The Feast
Photographer: Audun Rikardsen, Norway
Location: Kvænangen Fjord, Skjervøy, Norway
During a polar night in Norway, Audun Rikardsen photographed gulls swarming around a fishing vessel, trying to catch fish trapped in nets.
He aims to highlight the conflict between seabirds and the fishing industry. Many birds drown in purse seine nets each year.
Chien Lee
Chien Lee has been awarded first place in the Plants and Fungi category
Category: Plants and Fungi
Title: Deadly Allure
Photographer: Chien Lee, Malaysia
Location: Kuching, Sarawak, Borneo, Malaysia
Some carnivorous pitcher plants reflect UV light as part of their display, using colour, scent and nectar to lure prey. To illustrate this, Chien Lee used a long exposure and UV torch.
Luca Lorenz
Category: Rising Star
Title: Watchful Moments
Photographer: Luca Lorenz, Germany
Location: Germany
While Luca Lorenz was photographing mute swans on an urban lake, a coypu photobombed his frame.
Location: Ibbenbüren, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
On a city bridge, Simone Baumeister photographed an orb-weaver spider silhouetted against traffic lights. By reversing one of the six glass elements in her lens, she created the kaleidoscopic effect, framing the spider.
Fernando Faciole
Category: Impact Award Winner 2025 & Highly Commended, Photojournalism
Title: Orphan of the Road
Photographer: Fernando Faciole, Brazil
Location: CETAS (Centro de Triagem de Animais Silvestres), Belo Horizonte, Brazil
At a rehabilitation centre in Brazil, Fernando Faciole photographed an orphaned giant anteater pup trailing its caregiver.
His aim is to show the consequences of road collisions, a major threat to these animals.
Alexey Kharitonov
Alexey Kharitonov is the winner of the Portfolio Award category
Category: Portfolio Award
Title: Visions of the North
Photographer: Alexey Kharitonov, Israel/Russia
Location: Russia
A recently frozen lake in Svetlyachkovskoye Swamp reveals snow-dusted dark circles etched with crack-like veins.
Using a drone, Alexey Kharitonov captures the rapid transition from summer to winter across taiga forests and Arctic tundra.
When Jess Smith uploaded a photo of herself into an AI image generator this summer, she wasn't expecting a social experiment.
The former Australian Paralympic swimmer wanted to vamp up her headshot and uploaded a full-length photo of her and prompted it really specifically that she was missing her left arm from below the elbow.
But ChatGPT couldn't create the image she was asking for and despite various prompts, the results were largely the same - a woman with two arms or one with a metal device to represent a prosthetic.
She asked the AI why it was so hard to create the image and it said it was because it didn't have enough data to work with.
"That was an important realisation for me that of course AI is a reflection of the world we live in today and the level of inequality and discrimination that exists," she says.
Smith recently tried to generate the image again on ChatGPT and was amazed to find it could now produce an accurate picture of a woman with one arm, just like her.
"Oh my goodness, it worked, it's amazing it's finally been updated," she tells the BBC. "This is a great step forward."
Jessica Smith
Jess Smith found that ChatGPT was able to generate this image of her recently
It might not sound like a big deal, but for millions of people with disabilities, this shift matters.
"Representation in technology means being seen not as an afterthought, but as part of the world that's being built," Jess says.
"AI is evolving, and when it evolves with inclusion at its core, we all benefit. This is more than progress in tech it's progress in humanity."
A spokesperson for OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, said it had recently "made meaningful improvements" to its image generation model.
They added: "We know challenges remain, particularly around fair representation, and we're actively working to improve this - including refining our post-training methods and adding more diverse examples to help reduce bias over time."
Naomi Bowman
AI edited Naomi's eye even though she didn't request for this to be done
While Smith’s disability is now reflected with AI, Naomi Bowman, who only has sight in one eye, is still experiencing a similar problem.
She asked ChatGPT to blur the background of a picture but instead it "changed my face completely and evened out my eyes".
"Even when I specifically explained that I had an eye condition and to leave my face alone; it couldn't compute," she says.
Naomi initially found it funny but says "it now makes me sad as it shows the inherent bias within AI".
She is calling for AI models to be "trained and tested in rigorous ways to reduce AI bias and to ensure the data sets are broad enough so that everyone is represented and treated fairly".
Some concerned about AI‘s environmental impact have criticised the creation of images on ChatGPT.
Professor Gina Neff of Queen Mary University London told the BBC that ChatGPT is "burning through energy", and the data centres used to power it consume more electricity in a year than 117 countries.
Awkward conversations
Experts say bias in artificial intelligence often reflects the same blind spots that exist in wider society and it's not just disabilities that are unrepresented.
Abran Maldonado, chief execuive of Create Labs, a US-based company that builds culturally aware AI system, says diversity in AI starts with who's involved in training and labelling the data.
"It's about who's in the room when the data is being built," he explains. "You need cultural representation at the creation stage."
Not everything is represented on the internet correctly and Maldonado adds that if you don't consult the people with lived experiences then AI will miss them.
One well known example was a 2019 US government study which found that facial recognition algorithms were far less accurate at identifying African-American and Asian faces compared to Caucasian faces.
Despite living with one arm, Jess doesn't see herself as disabled, saying the barriers she faces are societal.
"If I use a public toilet and the tap has to be held down, that impacts my ability, not because I can't do it, but because the designer hasn't thought about me."
She believes there is a risk of the same oversight happening in the world of AI, systems and spaces built without considering everyone.
When Jess shared her original experience on LinkedIn, someone messaged her to say his AI app would create an image of a woman with one arm.
"I tried to create it and the same thing happened, I couldn't generate the image," she says.
She told the person, but they never replied to her and she says that's typical of conversations around disability.
"The conversation is too awkward and uncomfortable so people back away."
The Melodies for Mums classes in south London started in 2017 and now take on more than 400 women a year
Specially designed singing classes are clinically effective at treating mums with postnatal depression, a major three-year study has found. The authors say they could also be cost effective for the NHS at a time when mental health services are under pressure.
At a children's centre in a housing estate in south London a group of 12 young mums sit in a circle on the floor as their babies cry, crawl and sleep on mats in front of them.
But at this music class there are no bells or tambourines and no Wheels on the Bus or Baby Shark.
Instead, the group work through a mix of lullabies, folk and gospel, switching from Spanish to Congolese to Swahili in rounds of four-part harmonies.
The whole session, from the music selection, to the size of the group, to the set up of the room itself, has been carefully designed to treat the symptoms of postnatal depression.
"I can't stress enough how much this was a game changer for me," says Holly, 30, who started the course earlier this year after it was recommended by her care coordinator.
She says she started feeling unwell in her pregnancy after "my hormones, or something, went a bit wrong".
While those symptoms did start to improve after giving birth to her daughter Ettie, she still felt "vulnerable and very anxious".
"Being a new mum is one of the loneliest times, because you're sort of in this insular bubble," she says.
"And at the very first session here, I walked in and I was like, 'oh, this is my safe place'. Like, I'm safe here."
Holly is one of the 400 young mothers a year now attending specially designed singing classes across five London boroughs
Postnatal depression is a common problem, affecting more than one in 10 women within a year of giving birth, according to the NHS.
Symptoms are wide-ranging but can include persistent sadness or low mood, problems looking after yourself, insomnia and withdrawing from other people.
Melodies for Mums started in 2017 as a free weekly class in Southwark, south London, based on earlier research which suggested group singing could reduce stress and anxiety.
It's expanded quickly and now runs face-to-face sessions for 400 women a year in five London boroughs and online classes across the UK.
"We know that women experiencing symptoms of postnatal depression can struggle to connect with their peers," says Yvonne Farquharson, the founder of Breathe Arts Health Research, the non-profit organisation behind the idea.
"So through singing, we're getting them to really look at each other and make that kind of bond and social connection."
New mums often join the programme after it's suggested by their midwife, GP or local authority or find it through social media or word-of-mouth.
There is a screening process to check they will benefit before starting the 10-week course.
A 'long-lasting' impact
In 2019 the sessions became part of a study funded by a £2.6m grant from the Wellcome Trust to research how local arts projects might improve physical and mental health at a larger scale.
The results, published this week in the British Journal of Psychiatry, looked at almost 200 mums with postnatal depression over eight months.
The women were split into two groups with one group assigned the singing course and the other offered more typical support like community play classes.
All the mothers reported a reduction in their symptoms by week 10 but that improvement continued in the singing group for another six months beyond the end of the sessions.
"That's really important because it shows that the singing intervention is not only effective in the immediacy for depression, but it has a long-lasting impact," says Dr Rebecca Bind, a research associate at Kings College London and one of the study's lead authors.
Women in the singing group also had a much lower dropout rate and were more likely to say they found it a good match for their needs and easy to use.
The published paper didn't look specifically at why singing itself seemed to have a beneficial effect. But the researchers have their theories.
"I think part of it was women were in the presence of other mothers who were going through the same kind of experiences, even if they were not necessarily having to talk about it," says Dr Bind.
"And on top of that, the act of singing itself can have a very relaxing effect."
A second stage of the analysis has already taken saliva swabs from women to measure levels of the stress hormone cortisol.
Early results suggest that mothers in the singing group saw a "nice steady decline in those levels throughout the intervention period," according to Carmine Pariante, professor of biological psychiatry at Kings College London.
The music classes also helped mums form a bond with their babies which continued after the end of the course as the songs and music were used at home.
Jay, shown with her son Ezra, says a difficult birth had a "huge impact" on her mental health
At the children's centre Jay, holding her young son Ezra, describes postnatal depression as "feeling low when I know I should have been at the happiest point of my life".
"Just being able to be with people who are also struggling, even though that's not the focus of the session [is important]," she says.
"You're there, you're having a great time and singing, but you know that these people are also experiencing what you're experiencing."
Long NHS waiting lists
The organisers stress the singing classes don't have to replace talking therapies or medication.
But they could be either complimentary or a quicker, easier-to-access alternative for some women, at a time when there can be long waits for NHS mental health services.
The Kings College London study found the cost of the music course, at between £126 and £539 per mother and baby depending on how it's measured, was comparable to alternatives such as educational programmes and considerably lower than the cost of group therapy or home visits.
Yvonne Farquharson at Breathe says the arts organisation has now piloted its first singing sessions aimed at young dads.
And it has also been commissioned by the World Health Organization to train teams to roll out the classes in Denmark, Italy, Romania and other countries.
At the children's centre in south London the group talk not only about the friendships they have made, but also about the skills they've picked up over the 10 weeks.
"I have two very small children so things can get very stressful at home," says Stella while holding on tight to a wriggling baby Evie.
"I bring the singing back home with me so now I start humming when things get stressful, and I don't even think about it, it just happens and I can cope."
Melodies for Mums sample tracks:
Arrorró mi niño - Spanish lullaby
Simama Kaa - Swahili folk song
Bele Mama - Cameroonian folk song
Yani Yoni Ya Hu Wey Hey - Native American birthing song
A list of organisations in the UK offering support and information with some of the issues in this story is available at BBC Action Line
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“I’m not going to deny the reality — there’s no good explanation,” the interior minister said of how the 20 inmates had slipped out, perhaps over a period of time.
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